Vivian Geilim opinion editor
December 12 was the day the Democrats took a satisfying victory in the die-hard republican state of Alabama with Democrat Doug Jones beating Republican Roy Moore and winning the special Alabama senate election.
It’s been a tough year for the Democrats. Just shy from a year ago, Republican nominee Donald Trump became the President of the United States–otherwise known as doomsday. But we still overcame the faulty year, hoping to find some calmness amidst all the angry tweets and unsophisticated manner of our president. The Alabama Senate election, although not as mawkish as the Clinton vs.Trump Saga, still kept its viewers on their toes. By less than a two percent margin, Jones took the election with a victory becoming the first Democrat to hold a senate seat in the state since 1992.
Although Jones won the election, it is still questionable to see how close the two candidates were. The margin was 49.9 to 48.5 despite Moore’s brutal campaign marked by sexual abuse and child molestation accusations. Although it is a well-known fact that Alabama is a florid-red state filled with hard-right voters, it is still shocking to witness 48.5 percent of voters choosing to have a pedophile fill the senate’s seat rather than a Democrat. I think this was the most shocking idea behind this election and it all connects back to our president bragging about sexually assaulting women. Call me liberal, but is there not an evident pattern? Although Moore lost the election, the fact that the margins were a hair’s breadth apart says something that surfaces my apprehension. Almost half, but not quite, of Alabama would tolerate a senator who is accused of sexual predation upon teenagers. However, despite it all, we persevered.
Jones, a former US attorney famous for his prosecution on the two KKK members responsible for the 1963 bombing of Birmingham’s 16th street Baptist Church, vows to pursue traditional Democratic policy. He aims to focus on areas such as education and college debt, health care, women’s rights, and voting rights. (And thank god for those.)